With Venson offering a full suite of services to fleets, Roff is quick to identify contract hire, and fleet management, which continue to be popular services for their customers. She says: “For all fleets it’s still very much about controlling costs and demonstrating value for money.
“Our approach to our existing and prospective customers is to understand what’s happening in their own business and industry so that we can help them achieve their financial objectives. Getting under the skin of the organisation helps us to provide relevant and timely advice that enables them to future-proof their fleet, as well as proactively manage their day-to-day operational challenges.
“In our experience and based on our current customer portfolio, a sole supply contract provides continuity and consistency of service delivery. A fleet operator managing multiple providers not only has increases in administration time, but it can also prove challenging when managing driver issues, and the day-to-day operations of the fleet.
The EV question
Venson has been involved with electric vehicles since 2008, when Roff tells me it organised the first electric vehicle ride and drive event for fleet operators. She says: “Our approach to procuring and managing vehicles has adapted over 16 years but fundamentally the same aspects of funding and fleet management apply to a vehicle whether it’s EV, petrol, diesel or hybrid. It’s about understanding the operational requirements of the car or van, the whole life cost, lead times and tax implications for the employee and employer.
“There is no one-size-fits-all approach – the key is to identify which fleet vehicles lend themselves to what vehicle technology, and this will in part be driven by the operational requirements of that vehicle. As a result, this can mean a fleet operator is in essence running a series of smaller fleets within their overall fleet.
“When it comes to transition to new vehicle technologies, for some fleets it can be starting simply, moving from ICE to hybrid and then full Battery EV (BEV) or for others going straight to BEV or staying with hybrid. For example, a social housing provider we work with wanted to transition to a greener and more sustainable fleet but had concerns over costs. Through cost analysis, we debunked the myth that alternative-fuelled vehicles are more expensive to run and concluded that whole-life cost savings of 15% could be made through the lease of an alternative-fuelled vehicle.
“Salary sacrifice for cars has become more popular with organisations that want to offer rewards/benefits to help with staff retention or recruitment. More so in recent years because of the wider choice of EV car makes and models available in the market.”
Considering sal sac
Roff explains that to Venson, salary sacrifice is contract hire, with the difference being that it’s the employer driver relationship and contractual documentation that is different. A company car is governed by employment contract and company car policy whereas salary sacrifice is governed by additional documentation. Venson has ready to issue salary sacrifice documentation that employers can use when implementing our product. It’s provided free of charge.
Roff says: “Over the years entrants to the market have tried to position it as something overly complicated or made it appear to be a new product. Our view is the driver calling us with a company car or a driver calling us with a salary sacrifice vehicle is the same. The services required are all identical.”
According to Roff, the fact that Venson is a privately owned, independent fleet management company means it has the benefit of impartiality as it is not tied to a bank, or a vehicle manufacturer.
She says: “We work to achieve the best outcome for our customers based on our knowledge and experience of over 30 years working with a diverse customer base. We couple this with our high levels of customer service, something we focus heavily on, with our ethos being Customer First – making each customer feel like they are our only customer.
“Each customer has their own account team who deal with the fleet contact as well as the drivers. We don’t have a call centre; we believe in our customers speaking directly to their team who understand their fleet contract. They are supported by our technical operational teams, and everyone is based in the same office. Something which stood us in good stead during Covid, when our customers saw no change in the level of support they received from us, and for which we received very positive feedback. Especially for commercial fleets still delivering services to their own customer base during that time.
“Customer service to us is about getting through to someone in a reasonable time and speaking to someone who can own your problem and can get a resolution as quickly as possible.
“In addition, we make a point of understanding the changing landscape for fleet operators. Areas such as autonomous vehicles and hydrogen power and how they are going to impact day-to-day fleet operations, legislative requirements, financial implications are all key for us. Our role as a fleet management provider is to be able to arm the fleet manager with the necessary knowledge and information they need, so that they can navigate a safe route for their fleet operations.”
Enhanced services
Roff says that customer service will continue to be a key focus for Venson for the rest of this year. Plus, enhancing the services they deliver to drivers, through new applications that will streamline the ways in which they interact when carrying out key tasks, such as licence checks and service bookings.
She explains: “For the fleet operators it will be continuing to support them as they look to transition to other fuel types. Helping them to manage the risks whilst still delivering their key objectives of operational efficiency and cost management. As well as helping them manage their vehicle replacements, as the industry still wrestles with vehicle availability, especially vans.
“We want to continue to be a trusted partner to fleet operators and maintaining long-term relationships as has been the case for us over many years. We believe we’re here to focus on their fleet, advising and helping them make the right decisions for the future, so that they can focus on their own customers and operational issues.
“We believe it’s not about gimmicks, rebranding existing products or services or delivering service using a call centre. It’s about traditional customer service, delivered through a team that demonstrates accountability, integrity and a flexible approach to solving day-to-day fleet issues. No matter who they are dealing with within the customer’s organisation.”
